Late on July 31st, the 2013-14 Common Application went live, enabling thousands of eager students to get a head start on completing their college applications. And while the newly touted design is supposed to provide a more intuitive user-friendly experience, many students are running into unexpected and understandably frustrating difficulties. Common Application officials assure us that they are hard at work trying to fix a host of glitches and errors, especially those revolving around college specific supplements. In the meantime, however, we’ve put together ten tips and suggestions to help you successfully navigate and make the most of the new Common Application.

Our first five tips are listed below; stay tuned for the remaining five later this week. Have a question about strategies around the new Common Application? Post it below, and one of our College Coach admissions experts will answer it!

How to Write the Common App Essay Prompt About Failure

Today we continue our series of posts on common application essay topics. The second prompt asks students to, “Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you and what lessons did you learn?”

While most essay topics offer an open door for you to relate an accomplishment, moment of triumph, or positive personal attribute, this one asks instead that you to begin with failure. This isn’t some trap that the Common App has laid for unsuspecting students, nor is it an opportunity for you to score extra humility points with an admission office. It is, however, a prompt that requires care and thoughtfulness in its execution. A well-written “failure” essay can demonstrate remarkable growth and maturity, while a flippant or shallow version will cause you to lose ground with application readers.

It’s mid-July, and I’m sure most soon-to-be seniors are enjoying a much needed respite from school work, term papers, and standardized testing. But the halcyon days of summer, unfortunately, will eventually come to an end. It’s not a bad idea to get started on the main Common Application essay — get it out of the way before it has to compete for your attention against tests, papers, extracurricular activities, and any supplemental application essay questions, most of which get published August 1st.

So where does one even begin when tackling the Common App essay? Is there anything in particular colleges want to see? Let’s start with the first essay prompt (we’ll dive into the rest as the weeks progress):

Beginning with the 2014 application cycle, the Common Application now formally accommodates non-academic recommendation letters through the online portal, in addition to those from teachers and counselors. So, how do you make the best use of this option?

The answer may be this: by doing nothing at all. Each college requests the relevant data they need to make informed admissions decisions. While some colleges actively request a non-academic reference, most do not. In many cases, that is because an extra recommendation letter is not necessary.

I am so excited for the new Common Application (CA4)! I’ve been following all of the updates and attended the First Look webinar, and am looking forward to the August 1 rollout. Here are some of my favorite changes:

The Common Application (“Common App,” for short) offers an easy way for students to apply to multiple institutions using one main application. But just how “easy” is it, really? Because I have worked with the Common App for over 15 years, I decided to ask two of my students, Sam and Megan, for their navigational “first impressions.”

Sam: First things first. Just go to the Common App and in the middle of the page, right under the Username and Password Login, click on the “Go Here” link right next to “Never Registered?” You have to fill out your basic information (name, birthdate, year of graduation, etc.) and set up a username and password. [This is a document that will eventually be seen by admissions professionals, so everything needs to be correct!]

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